An electronic chassis which houses electronic components for high speed telecommunication and networking applications typically includes two card guide assemblies mounted between side walls of the chassis, one located adjacent the top of the chassis and the other located adjacent the bottom of the chassis. A backplane circuit board having various surface mounted connectors is typically fastened to the two card guide assemblies and forms the back wall of the chassis. A plurality of vertically oriented circuit board assemblies, each of which are typically comprised of a circuit board attached to a U-shaped channel member, are typically inserted into the chassis along the card guide assemblies. When fully inserted into the chassis, the circuit boards are connected to the backplane circuit board.
In order to make the connections between the vertically oriented circuit boards within the chassis and the backplane circuit board, it is critical that the backplane circuit board be properly aligned with the chassis. Attempts have made to provide proper alignment by providing additional openings in the backplane circuit board and manually aligning the backplane circuit board prior to fastening it to the chassis. However, providing additional openings and manually aligning the backplane circuit board is labor intensive, time consuming, and results in increased manufacturing costs. Moreover, existing designs do not compensate for any deviations from specified design tolerances of the components of the chassis that may result during the fabrication process. As a result, deviations from design tolerances may make it difficult, if not impossible, to obtain proper alignment of the backplane circuit board.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to have an apparatus for mounting a backplane circuit board to an electronic chassis that overcomes the disadvantages described above.